Various lighting arrangements are known for bathrooms and the like. Conventionally, a lighting arrangement is either fixed above, below or at the sides of a wall mounted mirror. These lights are generally exposed at all times or selectively hidden from view by a cover. Various types of vanity cabinet and mirror structures include panels or covers which can be slidably, pivotable, or removably opened to reveal a lighting arrangement for illumination when a person is positioned in front of the cabinet or mirror.
For instance, vanity light apparatus' are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,863 to Parrott and U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,264 to Culver in which pivotable panels are moved to expose concealed lighting arrangements. In Parrott, a pivotable cover is positionable between a closed and open position. When the cover is in the open position a light source housed within the structure is activated.
In Culver, a vanity cabinet includes a hinged cover and a folding vanity panel hinged to the underside of the cover. A mirror, mirror support and light source, hinged to the vanity panel are hidden from view when the cover is in a close position and are automatically unfolded and swung to an upright viewing position when the cover is raised.
Parrott and Culver suffer from numerous deficiencies making them undesirable from various standpoints. For example, in both Parrott and Culver, adjustment of the position of the light source and its angular alignment with respect to the mirror is severely limited. In Culver the cover is supported in only a fully raised position and while angular adjustment of the mirror is provided with respect to the vertical, no means for adjusting the lighting arrangement is provided. Furthermore, adjustment of the mirror is cumbersome, requiring the loosening of screws which hold the mirror in a fixed position, realigning the mirror and then retightening the screws. Flexibility in Culver is limited as well because none of Culver's structures are designed for wall mounting as units in modem, vanity cabinets.
In Parrott, several embodiments for positioning a rod-shaped light bulb within a housing are disclosed. However, in all Parrott's lighting arrangements, the light bulb is either fixedly attached to a pivotally connected cover or to a stationary back-wall of the housing. Accordingly, it is virtually impossible to control the angle at which the bulb projects light toward the mirror. Parrott, as with Culver, is directed to supporting the cover in only a fully opened or closed position. If Parrott's cover were partially pivoted to a position where the cover was between a fully open and closed position, illumination is limited to the portion of the light source that extends through the housing. It is desirable to be able to adjust the direction or angle of the entire output of the light source rather than limit the visible output of the light source to only a portion of its entire illumination.